The Kolkata Knight Riders will take on the Kings XI Punjab in the 37th game of the Indian Premier League this season. The game will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Both sides have had a good tournament so far and a win here will put them in a very good position to get to the playoffs.
Kolkata v Punjab odds:
Kolkata (8/11 at
SportingBet) has been a tad up and down this season but have been a far improvement from the previous season; they have four wins and three losses. A win here will take them to the top of the charts. On the other hand, Punjab (13/10 at
bet365) has played only five matches so far and despite the shaky start to the tournament, have won three. Not much to choose from between the two though, the home advantage will combine well with the momentum that the Knight Riders would have got from the previous win over Delhi.
Ground and Pitch:
This one should suit the bowling department more than the batsmen. Run-scoring could be an issue and while this is a night game, chasing could still be a problem. In the last one week, the teams batting first have won more games than the teams chasing and the toss may prove crucial on such a slow and low track.
Player News:
The Knight Riders may have won four of their games but there are a couple of questions that they will look to ponder on. For one, their middle-order English-import Eoin Morgan (8/1 at
Blue Square) has failed to reproduce the kind of form that one comes to associate with him when he plays for the national side. The other question on Gautam Gambhir’s (7/2 at
Boylesports) mind would be related to the toss-up between Shakib al Hasan (12/1 at
BetFred) and Ryan ten Doeschate (8/1 at
Blue Square) given the slow nature of the track.
Punjab went down in their previous game to the Delhi Daredevils but they had gone down fighting despite having to chase more than 230 for a win. The chief architect of that innings for Punjab was Shaun Marsh (4/1 at
Stan James), who looks to have got that mojo from the 2008 edition of the Indian Premier League back with his consecutive half centuries.
That aside, the King XI Punjab also made a wise inclusion of David Hussey (5/1 at
Blue Square) in the previous game, adding strength to the top-order. Hussey probably needs to bat higher than the number five that he is currently batting at to allow him the time to settle down and take on the bowling towards the end.
Prediction:
Kolkata Knight Riders will be favourites to win this game but a lot will also depend on which team bats first.
